After being reborn, I make up my mind to stop chasing after my husband and daughter

Chapter 24

Wendy made me a nutritious breakfast. I was halfway through my meal when Yvonne came bounding in. “Mom, you’re not going to work today,” she declared. “You have to stay home and play with me.”

I looked at her while spooning my gruel. “From now on, I will be going back to work,” I said. “But we’ll sign you up for some fun classes–you’ll have teachers and classmates to keep you company.”

Yvonne’s face paled at the mention of classes. In an instant, she was pointing at me, her voice rising to a wail. “I don’t want classes. You’re mean. I hate you. I’m telling Grandma.” She turned and ran toward the door to find her grandmother.

“Come back,” I commanded, my voice icy. “Go ahead–try telling on me.”

Yvonne’s face was still wet with crocodile tears. She turned to look at me, her eyes wide–almost like she was seeing me for the first time. And for just a second, I caught a flicker of fear.

fixed her with a cold stare. “Yvonne, I’m your mother. I brought you

if you’d rather have a different mother, go ask your father. I won’t

arm. “Mom, I’m sorry,” she mumbled. “I won’t talk back again. And I won’t tattle to Grandma. I know you

It hurt to remember how, in my previous life, she’d still

that I was my own worst

fix it. All I wanted was to

It encouraged us to offer support rather than impose limitations, to foster happiness instead of hardship, and to permit unrestrained

80s and 90s, caught between these new ideas and how we were raised, it became exhausting to know what was

got work soon.” Rubbing my temples, I nudged Yvonne toward her pony and went upstairs to